Legend of Bruticus
by Soundwave1455
Summary: The beginnings of a feared war machine
1. Chapter 1

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 1)

First Formation

Some Decepticons were built to be warriors, some technicians, some medics, but very few were ever to be as lucky as to be a Gestalt. Bruticus was one of these mighty beings. His name struck fear into all who ever saw this monster, and his legacy carried on throughout the factions as a devastating war machine. Bruticus was made for two functions: start war and end it. But being a Gestalt, he was comprised of multiple other Decepticons. One would create the main torso while the others formed limbs.

Onslaught was the leader of the group and formed the torso. He towered over his brothers as he led them into battle with tactical superiority, only to be topped by the leader of all Decepticons: Megatron. Onslaughts alternate mode was a long range anti-air truck coated in yellow; a suiting mode for this clever warrior. He lived by the words, "The mind is the greatest weapon." Vortex formed the left arm and was the cruelest of the group and functioned as the interrogator. His chosen alternate mode was a sky blue Black Hawk helicopter with the signature Decepticon purple camouflage. He enjoyed torturing pathetic Autobots and then finishing them off in the slowest way possible, just as a means of entertainment. The only one who could keep this monster under control was his brother, Blast Off. Speaking of his brother, Blast off was the only one who seemed to not fit in the group. He had no advanced weaponry like the others or enjoyed killing like the others did. It could almost go as far to say that he could've been an Autobot at one time. His function was a chemist and the carrier. In his free time, he would concoct new and more powerful weapons for his fellow Decepticons; but never made one for himself. He did not enjoy fighting; he saw it as pointless violence. Megatron kept him around because he was the most efficient scientist they had and he had another unique ability: mass-shifting. In his robot mode he was as tall as Vortex, but when he transformed, he could change his size. His alternate mode was a white and purple space shuttle and was used to transport cargo or the Decepticons from Cybertron to Earth. Next is Swindle, and as his name implies, cared only for money. "Make money, not war" was his motto. He was willing to sell anything to anyone for the right price, even if it was his enemies. Swindle was considered as the brightest of the group and also formed the right leg. His chosen vehicle mode was a militarized red jeep or Humvee. Last and second only to Vortex in ruthlessness was Brawl. He was extremely headstrong, stubborn, and determined to crush every Autobot under his mighty treads. His motto was, "I was built to be wild" and definitely lived up to his words. Like Vortex, he was almost uncontrollable when he went on a rampage, and also like Vortex, the only one who could stop him was Blast Off. He transformed into a vehicle that suited him most from the group: a purple and green camo Leopard tank. This group of ruthless and nearly unstoppable Decipticons was known as the Combaticons and when combined, formed the legendary Bruticus.

"Decepticons, why are you standing around? Attack!" Megatron issued the order on their home planet, Cybertron, to initiate one of the thousands of civil wars that have going on for millenias. A group of Autobots where returning to base when they were ambushed by the Monsters. The firsts out on the battlefield were the Seekers, a group of jet-formers who earned their name by being the first to scout the earth, to drop bombs on top of their unsuspecting enemies. A few expendable Autobots were destroyed by them, and the rest reacted by immediately taking cover. Both Megatron and his second in command, Shockwave, rushed to the field. "Shockwave, you know what to do." Megatron hinted. "Yes, sir." He replied as he back flipped into his alternate mode: a large, laser pistol. He landed in Megatron's hand he took aim at the sheltering Autobots. "Die Autobots!" he screamed as he shot two through their sparks. "Deadshot, we need support." the Autobot, Hot Rod, called on his built-in radio. "I gotcha Hot Rod." He responded miles away, perched up and the side of the wreckage of a building. He deployed his sniper as he laid prone on the metal. He looked through his scope and pulled Megatron into his sights. "You're goin' down Megatron." He said just as he pulled the trigger. The laser round flew through the air at high speed and made contact with the steel on Megatron's chest. "AH! Decepticons fall back!" he ordered, "Combaticons, stay and cover our tracks." "As you command Megatron." Onslaught replied. "Transform and form Bruticus!"

Swindle and Brawl transformed into their respected positions and formed the legs while Onslaught converted to the torso and combined with the legs. Vortex and Blast Off flew up to Onslaughts shoulders and twisted into what became the arms. Hands sprouted from their steel, and picked Onslaught's helmet and Bruticus's large gun from his back to complete the monster. The helmet fit perfectly over the torsos head, and with that, Bruticus was formed. "Must destroy Autobots." Were his first words as he took a mighty step that shook the planet. He peered down the cowering Autobots, and used the huge cannons placed on his back to reign death upon the pitiful robots. They rolled out of the way except for one who was paralyzed with pure fear. The missiles came down hard on the Transformer, disintegrating him in an instant. "Autobots, we have to retreat. Do you have our backs, Deadshot?" "I gotcha, don't you worry. Just get out of there ASAP!" the sniper took aim again, but this time at the head and pulled the trigger. He looked on in awe as the round merely bounced off his skull. Bruticus's binocular optics zoomed in on Deadshot's exact position and raised and hand cannon. "Autobot…die!" he fired his weapon and the Transformer-sized caliber stretched across the sky, moving right at Deadshot. He had enough time, though, to transform to his jet and quickly fly away as the round struck and obliterated what was left of the building. When he looked back to where the rest of the Autobots were, they were no longer there; they had taken another route to their base. "Combaticons, disengage." Onslaught ordered and his brothers followed. Bruticus fell into his individual components and returned to their leader.

Back at the Autobot's base, Hot Rod approached his commander. "Optimus, we have a problem, one bigger than Megatron." "I know, Hot Rod, I was watching the whole thing." "And you didn't come help us?" "You saw how durable that monster is, our current numbers cannot stand up to such a beast plus Megatron; we would lose too many soldiers." "So what now, what other choice do we have?" "Some of my Autobots discovered an ancient warrior buried deep within the planet that just might be able to stand up to that behemoth. I recognized him immediately and ordered our technicians and medics to begin reconstruction on him." "Who is it, sir?" "His name is legendary and respected, he is Metroplex." "What? I thought he was only a myth." "No, Hot Rod, he's real and he may be what we need to turn the tide of the war in our favor."


	2. Chapter 2

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 2)

Metroplex

Back at the Decepticon's base, Bruticus was being congratulated for his outstanding performance. "Well done Combaticons, well done." Megatron said. "Thank you master, it is an honor to serve in your presence." "I know it is Swindle." "…suck up." Brawl said in a whispered voice. "What's the status of our heroes here, Soundwave?" "Energon low…need sufficient source." The communications expert answered. "Earth is plentiful with energon lord Megatron." Replied his second in command, Shockwave. "Then it looks like we're heading to earth. Men, prepare to depart. We shall load up in two vehicles: Blast Off and Astrotrain." Astrotrain was one of the three triple changers in the Decepticon army. "Remember men, look out for energon and crush any Autobots in our way!" A lout and affirmative, "Yes, Sir!" came from all the men, and they boarded their vessels and departed for earth with their new goal in mind.

"Sir we're comin in hot!" Astrotrain said as he and Blast Off were entering earth's atmosphere. "You might wanna hold on to something, it's gonna be a rough landing." The Decepticons firmly gripped anything solid within the shuttles hoping not to fly around and damage their transport. As the shuttles further entered the atmosphere, their nose cones caught fire, as well as the rest of their protective coverings. The land began to take form once they moved closer and closer, but they were not concerned with the scenery at the moment, only where they could land. Astrotrain was heading for a lake but Blast Off got separated somewhere in the atmosphere and was ready to land in the middle of a desert. Astrotrain hit the water hard, causing minor damage but also putting out the fire. Blast Off touched down on the sand which covered him and suffocated the fire. "Get out now!" Astrotrain yelled. Everyone immediately evacuated the robot as he began to transform. When he was fully transformed, he and his brothers swam to the surface and made their way over to the shore. "I am a train and a shuttle, NOT a boat!" "Quit your whining soldier!" Megatron scolded. "Where are we, Soundwave?" "The Nile River in Egypt." "And where is Blast Off and the others?" "Calculating…location revealed…Sahara desert approximately 6.2 miles from our position." "Starscream, fly to their location and find them now!"

"Ugh, why do I have to do this job, I hate patrol. I never find anything out here, it's just the same desert, nothing ever changes." The Autobot Sandstorm said. "Optimus, still nothing to report." "Very well, return to base." "Finally…wait…is that?" he said as he looked up in the sky, "Starscream! Sir, we have Decepticons!" "Good, I'm sending something special your way." "What's that supposed to mean, sir?" "Don't worry soldier, you will see." Sandstorm was also a triple changer and transformed from his desert buggy to his helicopter mode and trailed far behind the fast moving jet.

"Ahh…what kind of landing was that Blast Off?" Swindle said with an attitude. "Are you still alive? Yes? Then stop complaining." The combaticons left their brother so he could transform and join them in robot mode. "Where are we?" Onslaught asked. A monotone voice came over their intercom, "Combaticons, stand your ground, we are coming." Soundwave said. "Stay here? HA! Come on brothers, let's form Bruticus and make our own way out of here." Vortex said with an anxiety. "That would seem like the best idea, let's do it. Decepticons, combine into Bruticus!" Onslaught ordered. Brawl and swindle took their positions and steel formed with steel as Onslaught bonded with them. Vortex and Blast Off soon formed the arms and joined them. A large purple and black steel chest plate formed as he slid his helmet over Onslaught's head: Bruticus was once again standing proud.

One huge step after the other sunk into the sand, but he pressed on with hopes of escaping the blazing desert. After making his way over a sand mound, he looked up to see Starscream. "Megatron, I've found Bruticus: he's ten klicks from your current position just as Soundwave had said." "Bring them back here." "Yes, sir." Starscream came to a stop and transformed on Bruticus's shoulder. "Bruticus, you need to follow me back to Megatron." "…Megatron… leader." "Yes, now follow me." "Bruticus follow. Bruticus sees another aircraft." He said as he noticed Sandstorm still flying. "What? I wasn't followed! Sandstorm! Bruticus, kill him!" The war machine raised his weapon high in the air, but was too slow and the Autobot was too close. He quickly transformed to robot mode and, still flying through the air, kicked Starscream from Bruticus's shoulder. Sandstorm looked over to see the Autobot-sized helmet staring back at him and knew that he had a great advantage here. The Autobot lifted his pistol and took a couple shots at the steel, but to no avail he could not penetrate the thick armor. "How dare you Autobot scum!" Starscream yelled as he returned for revenge. He flew at Sandstorm at high speed, but Sandstorm fell back and grappled onto the bottom of the Seeker's jet. Starscream could not take the extra weight and began to descend. "Bruticus help Starscream." He said as he stretched his massive hand out. Bruticus could not grab the Autobot for he was moving too fast, but Starscream flew towards his hand with intent of smacking off the dead weight from his jet. Sandstorm hit Bruticus's hand hard and let go of his grapple which only led him to fall on the ground forty feet below him. He smacked the sand hard and just laid there, but when he opened his eyes, he was covered by a large shadow and something obstructed his view of the sun. As his eyes came to focus, he realized that it was Bruticus's gargantuan foot which was quickly making its way to his position. He transformed to his buggy and made haste to get out of there as fast as he could. The Autobot barely managed to escape, but he could not evade the immense shockwave that was created from the Decepticon's foot striking the ground. "Die Autobot!" Bruticus said as he once again raised his tremendous hand cannon. Sandstorm raced across the desert as Bruticus charged his weapon and with Starscream swiftly approaching, but Sandstorm's life was saved by a mysterious being. Sandstorm noticed an approaching shadow and was confused because the only thing that can create a shadow that large was Bruticus and he was too slow to catch up to him. He looked up to see a colossal space craft flying overhead; it was heading straight at Bruticus who was still charging his weapon. The mighty ship transformed in mid-flight to build up an enormous amount of momentum to add to his kick. The colossus's foot planted itself on the face of Bruticus and for the first time, he was knocked onto his back. Both Sandstorm and Starscream looked on with awe at the legendary guardian who was standing in their very presence. "…Is that…" Sandstorm stuttered. "Metroplex…" Starscream finished his sentence. Bruticus had finally met his match.


	3. Chapter 3

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 3)

Battle of the Colossi

Starscream and Sandstorm could not believe their optics; a living legend was standing before them: Metroplex. He was the former guardian of Cybertron centuries ago, but went offline when he saved the planet from an oncoming meteor. The giant rock pushed him deep into the metal planet and nearly disintegrated him. Optimus only recently discovered his shattered remains and, with some help, rebuilt the titan and sent him to earth to hopefully destroy the war machine Bruticus.

"Stand Bruticus! Stand and fight a true legend!" Metroplex mocked in his low, deep voice. Bruticus lay on the sand, starring up at the colossus. "Only one legend here!" Bruticus replied. "Then prove your worth Decepticon; stand and fight me like the monster you are." The Decepticon began to rise to his feet, and now he was looking into the optics of his nemesis. "Bruticus crush you!" he said as he and Metroplex grappled each other. As Bruticus appeared to be winning the battle and pushing Metroplex onto his knees he yelled, "Fall Autobot!" A burst of strength shot through Metroplex, and he started to stand back up, pushing Bruticus onto his knees and said, "You first." With those words, Metroplex threw up the Decepticon's arms and wrapped his hands around his waist. The towering Autobot lifted the war machine over his head and held him there, "You're quite light for a hunk of metal," and tossed him forty feet and back onto the sand. "AH!" the Decpeticon screamed as he hit the desert hard. "Bruticus hurt…Bruticus get revenge!" he returned to his feet and charged after his opposing titan, clenching his fist and bringing it back to charge it for a devastating attack. Metroplex did the same and swung his arm back as Bruticus moved closer. The Decepticon unleashed his fist and so did his nemesis. Their knuckles collided, causing a massive shockwave that blew the other two minor transformers far, far away. The seismic wave also parted all the sand around them, and now they were standing on the bare ground beneath the desert. Bruticus grabbed ahold of Metroplex's head and proceeded to beat his head till it cracked. The Autobot responded by landing a strong and mighty blow to his enemy's stomach, causing his chest plate to break and fall off. Bruticus stepped back, grabbing his stomach in pain, and fell on one knee. Metroplex pulled his arm back again, but this time swung it forward in a vertical motion, uper-cutting the beast. The blast knocked Bruticus's helmet off, but he still stood back up, readying for more fighting. The Autobot took a few steps forward, only starring down the sparking and barely standing Bruticus. "You don't know when to give up." Metroplex then grabbed both of the Decepticon's arms and raised his leg and kicked Onslaught in his cracked abdomen. The arms were ripped off in the process and now the once tall and mighty Bruticus was once again lying before the titan. Metroplex took some steps back and said, "Now you will feel my full power!" Cannons flipped over each shoulder, one flipped across over each side of his waist, the antennas attached to his head were also cannons that rotated forward, and to add on to his eradicating firepower, he carried two large guns. All his weaponry was focused at the barely living Decepticon lying on the ground, and he began to charge them. Just at the moment he was about to fire, Starscream came from behind and dropped multiple bombs on the colossus's cracked skull. "BLAH!" he yelled in a very angry tone, "Starscream!" "You want me? Come get me!" Starscream taunted, "If you insist Decepticon." Metroplex then jumped high into the air, transforming in the process. Metal folded over metal, steel collapsed against steel, and soon the gigantic starship was once again flying. "He may be huge, but I'm sure he's slow." Starscream thought to himself. The gargantuan thrusters on the back of the ship ignited and he began to fly forward at high speed. "Guess I was wrong." Starscream said as he was then splattered onto the front of the monumental starship. He couldn't fly faster than his enemy so he was forced to submit to Metroplex's sense of direction. He looked forward and saw a pyramid out in the distance, "No…no…no no no no no! Stop! Stop you adamant monster!" When they were about to make contact with the stone mountain, time almost stopped for Starscream. But time went on in Metroplex's realm as he pushed right on through the pyramid and not even slowing down. When he came out on the other side, Starscream was no longer on the ship's front. "Hahaha! Pathetic Decepticons, I forgot how much I loved my job!"

Starscream remained motionless on the ground, missing his legs and one arm along with the two wings that were on his back. "Soundwave…move faster…Bruticus down and so am I…" were the last words that Soundwave ever heard of Starscream. "Megatron, we must move more swiftly. There are Autobots in the vicinity." "Autobots out here? Ha! We shall crush them all!" "Sir, they took out Bruticus and Starscream." "…what? Bruticus was invincible." "Sir, what about Starscream?" asked Astrotrain who was standing behind them. "He can be replaced, but a war machine like Bruticus cannot. Astrotrain, get us over there now that we have a lock on Starscream's position." "Yes, sir." He immediately switched to his previous form, a shuttle, and loaded up his fellow Decepticons and left straight for Bruticus.

Flying over the vast desert, they eventually came upon the wreckage of an ancient pyramid. Lying on the Sahara floor, under a large pile of rubble, was the shattered and broken Starscream. He was motionless, almost offline. "What could've done this?" asked Megatron. "Possibly a rail gun, sir." Answered the communications expert. "Let me out!" said Starscream's close brother, Sunstorm. "Stay here, we will need you for the upcoming battle!" ordered his leader, Megatron. "That is my brother down there, and I do not take orders from a coward like you!" "How dare you…I will rip the steel from your chassis!" "You can try, Megatron, but now I must save Starscream." He opened up Astrotrain's side door and transformed to his yellow and white jet and flew from his safety to retrieve his fallen brother. "Forget him! We have a more important duty to attend to. Astrotrain, quick, move faster. I think I see Bruticus out in the distance, but…who is that?" "Scans indicate that it is the Autobot that I detected. It is not in our recent database; I will check older files." Answered Soundwave. "Autobot file located, his name in Metroplex, an ancient guardian of Cybertron." "So this is the legendary Metroplex…I've heard much about him but only shrugged them off as myths. Is this your new weapon Optimus? This is how you counter my own war machine? Hahaha! Bring it on!" "Sir, Bruticus is on the ground…in pieces." "You two deal with that, I want Metroplex! Take us down, Astrotrain."

Metroplex heard the sound of incoming thrusters and turned around to find the Decepticons heading straight for him. Astrotrain flew about twenty feet away from the giant. Megatron leaped out the door after Metroplex while Astrotrain kept flying toward his fallen comrades. "You're mine Autobot!" screamed Megatron as he gained momentum and landed a hard kick to the face of the behemoth. "RAWR!" the beast screamed in agony as the crack grew larger and more sparks flew out. Megatron, still standing on Metroplex's shoulder, noticed the growing crack and took aim at it. With one charged shot from his fusion cannon, the leviathan gave way and collapsed onto the solid ground. "Hahaha! Is that the best you have Optimus?" "Sir, we have the Combaticons. Let's get out of here." Megatron took his time to gloat about his amazing victory and then boarded the shuttle. Sunstorm, with Starscream grappled to the bottom of him, caught up to Astrotrain before he left the atmosphere. "Open up!" "Get away, you chose your path when you left the shuttle." Megatron replied. "Fine. I will find another way to fix my brother. We never needed you Decepticons. I and my brothers were better off without you." With those last words to Megatron, Sunstorm flew off in the opposite direction in hope of finding help.

Sandstorm, who was blown miles away from the battlefield, began to come back online. "Ah…what happened? Where's Metroplex and Bruticus." The Autobot peered off into the hazy desert and found a giant mountain of metal. "Optimus, this is Sandstorm, come in." "What is it? Did our new weapon prove effective?" "Kind of, sir. Bruticus is gone, but Metroplex is down and appears to be offline at the moment." "Hold tight, I'm sending Ratchet your way." Sandstorm approached ground zero and the fallen titan. He was lying flat on his face in the hard ground. "Why is there no sand here? Could that shockwave blow away all the surrounding sand like it did with me? I guess it doesn't matter now. Just hold in there big guy," Sandstorm laid his hand on the ancient Autobot's metal, "Help is on the way."


	4. Chapter 4

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 4)

Devastator

"Where are we?" Starscream said as he lay on the soft green grass. "George, South Africa. I drug you quite a ways to get here." Replied his brother, Sunstorm, "I cut off all communications with the Decepticons, we're safe from them and the Autobots here." "Why would you do that?" "Because they were gonna leave you under the ruble of that pyramid. You were going to be left for dead, but I abandoned Megatron and the others to save you. I've managed to repair your injuries by using some of the scrap found around the city and junkyards." "…thank you. Now what?" "Now we get revenge on the ones who betrayed you and the Autobots." "We are only two soldiers, and you expect us to take on two large armies? You are out of you mind Sunstorm!" "Not yet I'm not. I have an idea. Not far from the junkyard was a construction site. In that site were, of course, construction vehicles. So I thought…" "Say no more, I understand what I have to do." "Good, but how will you get back to Cybertron?" "It may take me awhile, but I can fly there on my own. Astrotrain only sped up the process." "Very well, we both know what to do. Let me know when you leave so I can go and do my part." "I'm feeling fine now, so I will take my leave, you head out and fetch that heavy equipment."

"Optimus, I see Ratchet on his way now." "Good, if any bot can bring back Metroplex, it's Ratchet." Sandstorm focused his gaze on an emergency truck dashing through the smooth sand of the desert. Still moving, the back doors opened up and the back, along with the entire back top, split apart and swung forward over the hood of the vehicle. The back bottom, with the chassis, also split and pivoted to the front of the vehicle. The sudden increased weight on the hood caused the entire truck to flip forward and plant itself on the robots now fully formed feet. The metal that was once the chassis began to form arms and hands while his head rotated around to a forward position. The momentum that the truck had built up caused the robot to run to Sandstorm. Stopping in front of the Autobot, he said, "Ratchet reporting for duty." "You're the only one who can fix this." "I know, I was one of the ones who built this beast. Back up, I'm going to need more room." Sandstorm listened and took a few steps back, "I just hope the Decepticons aren't doing the same to Bruticus."

"What's the status of my warriors?" Megatron asked. "I believe that with proper caution and exertion, your men will make a complete reinvigoration." Said the Decepticon medic, Flatline. "What did he say?" asked Skywarp (another seeker). "He said that they will be fine. Why are you so stupid?" replied his brother Thundercracker. "Only Skywarp calls Skywarp stupid! I may be stupid, but you are hideous." "You deficient, mindless moron; we were built on the same mold!" "Yeah…well…I have a better paint job." Thundercracker only looked at him and rolled his eyes in embarrassment. "How long will it take?" asked the intelligent seeker. "Only a few days. These are quite resilient men you have here, lord Megatron." Replied the Doc. "I know, I came up with the idea of using a new type of armor; I did do a good job didn't I?" "It was my idea!" screamed the engineer and one of the few female Decepticons, Scorpia. Megatron turned to look at her and raised his cannon. His charging plasma within his fusion cannon was the last image she ever saw, for she was soon turned to a pile of scrap and goo on the floor. "Now it's my idea." "You…you just shot one of your soldiers for no reason!" said Flatline. "And I will do the same to you if you don't hurry up!" "Yes, lord Megatron, I am going as fast as I can." Astrotrain left the argument to go check on his close friend. The Combaticons were separated into their own rehabilitation rooms, and he was entering Blast Off's room. The automatic door shut behind him as he starred at his barely online friend who had large tubes connected all over his body. "How are you holding up?" "I will live, but I wouldn't be in this predicament if I could only stay behind here at the base and do something less stressful, like communications or a technician." Replied Blast Off. "You were built to be a warrior, and not just any warrior, you are a part of the mighty and invincible Bruticus." "Yeah well he's obviously conquerable because here I am, and my brothers are lying in the other rooms in the same, if not worse, condition. So long as Metroplex lives, there can be no fear of Bruticus in the sparks of Autobots." "The Autobots do have something to fear; Megatron finished what you started." "What? How?" "I was carrying him and Soundwave to retrieve you and your brothers when Megatron jumped out and gave that mountain of metal a hard kick in the face, followed up by a charged blast from his fusion cannon to the crack that you guys created." "That's awesome, but I have a feeling that he will not be offline for long." "Astrotrain, visiting time is up. Megatron wants us to return to earth to get that energon." "Ok, Thundercracker, I'll be right there." Astrotrain left his friend and joined the other seekers in their quest for energon.

The remaining seekers were Thundercracker (the warrior), Skywarp (the stealth), Thrust (insane soldier), and Dirge (fear reliant warrior). Dirge and Thrust were unique from the others because of their distinct cone-shaped heads. Dirge was even more anomalous than Thrust, because he chose a Harrier instead of the F-15 Raptor like all the others. Another way to distinguish them all was by their colors. They all had purple in their paint, but they each had their own main color that could identify them out on the battlefield. Thundercracker was blue, Skywarp jet black, Thrust maroon, and that left Dirge to be a much lighter color of Thundercracker. They, along with Astrotrain, departed for earth for energon and hopes of maybe finding their last two brothers.

Sunstorm walked to the construction site of which he had previously seen. He peered down into the crater to discover six suitable vehicles for his plan. He was not built for heavy lifting, but he could manage one at a time. Sunstorm transformed at the top of the crater, dropped down his grapple cable, and latched one of the tractors. "Ugh! These vehicles are heavier than I thought." He said as he carried the bulldozer away. The humans ditched the tractors and looked on with fear while they ran for their lives. The Decepticon placed the bulldozer at the ledge of the crater, "That's one down, five more to go. I just hope Starscream's job is goin just as smooth as mine."

The leader of the Seekers finally landed on Cybertron; he knew exactly where to go. There was a building on Cybertron which held newly created sparks, and those sparks were needed to animate lifeless vehicles. Each faction had their own spark vault, so Starscream infiltrated the less dangerous one: his own faction. But he knew that if Megatron caught him, he would be put to death. The Seeker crept through the hallways, creeping around each one to check for a patrol, but it seemed like it was completely empty. He came across a rather large door, "There it is: the vault! Sunstorm told me to only grab six sparks. Good, I can only carry six in my cockpit." "There he his! There's the traitor!" a voice came from behind; it was a patrol of minor Decepticons drones. Starscream raised his arm cannon, his null ray blasters, and fired off a direct hit on the drone's chest. "Out of my way!" he screamed as more came. "Get him!" Starscream used his secondary weapon, rockets, to blow a large hole in the wall; large enough for him to transform and escape. "Megatron, he's here on Cybertron!" "Who? Sunstorm?" "…no sir, Starscream. He took off with a few Decepticon sparks from the vault." "O I see that he too is a traitor now. Do not follow him, let him go." "But sir…" "That's an order soldier! Now get back to you duties!" "Yes sir." Starscream continued at full speed, thinking that he was still being followed. He flew at full speed at earth, also eager to get back and see his brother's plan fulfilled.

"Well…there we go, all six vehicles. Now where's Starscream?" "I'm here!" his brother yelled as he transformed and landed in front of him. "Did you bring the sparks?" "Yes here they are." "Good, good; you've done a good job, Brother. Now behold our new army: the Constructicons!" Sunstorm forced each spark into the engine of each of the tractors. A bulldozer, front loader, cement mixer, crane, dump truck, and an excavator were the vehicles that Sunstorm chose. Each of them immediately began to transform into their respected robot modes. They each stood as proud and new Decepticons. "This is going very well, we just need names for you." He pointed to the front loader first, "You shall be known as Scrapper and the leader of these soldiers. You will be Hook" he said as he pointed to the crane. He then turned his attention to the bulldozer and then the dump truck, "Bonecrusher and Long Haul. And that just leaves you two left. Hmm…" he looked at the excavator, "Scavenger." And then at the last Constructicon, the cement mixer, "Mixmaster. Now are you six ready to destroy the Autobots and Decepticons?" "Uh…Sunstorm, I don't think that eight Decepticons are enough to take on two large factions." "Oh but you see, my brother, these six have something very special about them. Constructicons, form Devastator!" They seemed to react on instinct as Scrapper and Mixmaster were the first to take their positions as the feet. Long Haul jumped on the two and formed the lower torso while Hook formed the upper torso. Boncrusher crawled up the tower and transformed into the left arm. Scavenger did the same; and hands formed out of the metal. A large skull transformed out of Hook and with that, Devastator was complete. "I am DEVASTATOR!" said the hulking beast. "Hahaha! You did well this time Sunstorm, you really outdid yourself. I think we may actually have…wait who's that out in the distance?" a group of jets and a shuttle were flying straight for them. "Starscream, Sunstorm! We've been searching all of Africa for you two" Thundercracker greeted them as he transformed and planted himself and the others on the ground. "Who's your new friend?" "This is Devastator. With him we will finally crush our opposing factions." Answered Starscream. "Factions? As in plural?" inquired Dirge. "Yes, Megatron is not a suitable leader, and if he will not submit, then he will be eradicated. We are giving you the option to decide whose faction you wish to be on." "I will stand with you!" Skywarp answered eagerly. "As will I. Thrust, will you join me?" "I will rise to victory with my brothers" both Dirge and Thrust agreed. "That just leaves you two, Thundercracker and Astrotrain." "Hmm…I have made my decision; I will follow your lead Starscream." "Smart move; now what about you Astrotrain? You shall make a fine addition to our ranks." "Very well, I will join your faction." "Now that we have a suitable army, our next target is…" "Wait!" Astrotrain interrupted. "We should make sure Metroplex is down for good." "That would be a safe and wise idea, what do you say Sunstorm?" asked Starscream. "I agree, let's go."

"How are the Combaticons?" asked Megatron. "They are fully functional and ready for war, lord Megatron." Responded the Doc. "Gooood, hahaha! Sunstorm will be the first to feel the wrath of a war machine, and I don't mean Bruticus. Soundwave, Blitzwing, and Tankor, come with me; Shockwave stay here and look after Cybertron; you are in command while I'm away." "What is your command Megatron?" "I want you to train the new troops, when I return I shall see if they are truly worthy of the title 'Decepticon'." "Yes sir." "I should've ordered Astrotrain to stay." "Megatron." "Yes, Soundwave?" "I've created a trans-dimensional warp gate. We may now arrive at any location so long as we have the proper coordinates." "Do we still have the coordinates of Starscream's last location?" "Already input into the computer" "I'm impressed, Soundwave. Decepticons, file into the warp gate; we're going to get some vengeance! "Wait, Bruticus come too." "Of course you do. Let's move out men!"

"Ah…that should do it." Ratchet step back from his work, "Is he gonna be ok?" "Ok? Ha! He's better than ok, he's online and ready for battle." They both glared at the fallen Titan as his eyes flashed blue, and raised his colossal arm into the air. "Where am I?" asked the Behemoth. "You are in the Sahara Desert. You were knocked offline by Bruticus and Megatron." "Megatron…I must destroy Megatron." Metroplex put both hands on the ground and began to lift his massive body. He planted each foot firmly on the ground and put the ten kiloton mass of metal and steel on his strong, powerful legs. "I will crush all Decepticons in my path!" "Well you'll get your chance. He comes the Seekers." Warned Sandstorm. "And who is that with them? I've never seen that 'con before." "There Devastator, do you see that other titan?" asked Sunstorm, "That is your enemy…kill him." "RAWR!" the monster screamed as he flew towards Metroplex. His feet hit the ground with a shake that caused Ratchet and Sandstorm to stagger and almost fall over. "Who are you? Identify yourself!" ordered Metroplex. Devastator's only response was, "Prepare for Devastation!" The green giant took huge steps forward while Metroplex stood his ground. Devastator stopped far before he reached his target, for he saw something else off in the distance, behind his enemy. A warp gate opened up behind them. "Ratchet, turn around!" "Starscream, look!" speaking in unison, but not knowing it, they all agreed on the same person, "MEGATRON!" soon followed him were his loyal Decepticons and the reanimated Bruticus. "Hahaha! Who is that Starscream?" "Your Destruction Megatron!" answered Sunstorm. "And I also see that you brought Metroplex back to life, it's a shame I won't be able to destroy him myself this time. Bruticus, kill that worthless Autobot." "Yes Leader" "I have more important things on my mind, like eradicating you, Sunstorm." "If you kill me, then you will have to kill all my brothers and Astrotrain as well." "What? All of you have betrayed me? That's ok I will still…No…it can't be…" Megatron spotted a red and blue semi-truck racing through the desert with some others behind him. The truck came to a halt and started to transform into the respected leader of the Autobots. "Optimus Prime!" "Megatron!" "Why are you here?" "I am here to retrieve my men from the likes of you and your Decepticons." "You're not going anywhere Prime; I'll make sure of it." Optimus flipped out two long swords from the side of his arms, "Bring it on Brother!"

Devastator continued to move forward in front of Metroplex while Bruticus was standing behind his nemesis. The Seekers flew after Megatron's loyal Decepticons, and the Autobots also joined in the fighting. This left Megatron and Prime to duel it out once and for all.


	5. Chapter 5

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 5)

War

"Are you ready to fight a true warrior, Optimus?" Megatron exclaimed. "I am ready, Brother, bring it on." The brothers continued to circle each other, waiting for the other to strike. Megatron's Decepticons engaged the Autobots that trailed along side Optimus Prime in his arrival. Evac (who chose a MH-53 pave low helicopter as his alt mode) transformed and took flight after his nemesis, Blitzwing. His enemy was one of the three Decepticons triple changers who alt modes consisted of a robot, tank, and jet mode. Blitzwing too took flight after Evac and took their battle to the skies. Prime's second in command, Ironhide, set his sights on the last triple changer, Tankor. "You're mine Decepticreep!" he screamed as he readied his large arm cannons. "You'll have to catch me first." Tankor back-flipped into his plane mode and flew over Ironhide's head. "Ha! I see you're gonna make this fun!" he said when he transformed into his Nissan Titan truck to hunt the Decepticon down. Soundwave's sworn enemy and counterpart, Blaster, was running straight at him. The two have been enemies since the beginning of the war; they both served the same purpose and both have similar alt modes. "You ready Decepticon?" "Autobots inferior…Decepticons superior…" "Is that all you have to say? It's been awhile since we've last met." "Your screams will be music to my ears." "Yep, you still haven't changed; you're still goin down!" With each Decepticon with their Autobot, this left the splinter faction on their own to watch the battle below. Ironhide, who was passing below Skywarp, was still chasing Tankor. The Autobot had his cannons deployed in vehicle mode, but they were not meant for anti-air. Ironhide tried to hit the Decepticon but was missing terribly and even managed to hit Skywarp who was above him. "Why you…" the renegade said as he pursued the black truck. "Skywarp, get back here! We don't need to be starting unwanted fights!" Thundercracker tried to get his brother to calm down, "Don't tell me what to do!" "Dirge, Thrust, help me with this." "Whatever, I just wanna fight!" With most of the Seekers distracted, the last two watched their new creation deal with the Autobot powerhouse, Metroplex, and the Decepticon war machine, Bruticus.

Metroplex was surrounded, he couldn't step back because Bruticus was waiting for him, and he could move forward for Devastator was walking to his position and fast. Metroplex may have been a hulking mass of circuits and metal, but he was surprisingly fast for his size. As Bruticus swung his arm back for a strike, Devastator did the same; they had planned to hit the Titan from both sides at once, but Metroplex had another idea in mind. Just as they were about to collide, the white Titan ducked out of the way, causing the Gestalts' fists to collide into each other's face. "Why Decepticon hurt other Decepticon?" Bruticus yelled in anger, "Don't stand in my way!" Devastator replied. Metroplex stood back up and grabbed both of the staggering Decepticons; one in each hand. With a great feat of strength, he lifted them into the air and smashed them together. Both mountains of metal fell to the ground, but remained intact. "Stand up Devastator, stand up!" Starscream screamed across the battlefield. Metroplex heard his obnoxious voice and turned his attention to him. He raised his mighty arm with his colossal gun in hand and took aim at him. "AH! No no no no no! Not again!" both Starscream and Sunstorm transformed and immediately left his blast radius. Metroplex smirked and looked back at the ground to finish off the two Gestalts. When he looked back, Devastator was still lying there, but Bruticus was gone, "Wait, where did he…" Bruticus jumped him from behind and proceeded to land a strong, heavy blow to his back, where his armor was considerably weaker. The war machine grabbed his nemesis head and bent his back down so he could deliver a powerful knee to that weak back. "AH!" he screamed in agony in pain as the crack now turned to a gaping hole. Bruticus's knee entered that hole and on its way out, brought any wires with it. He dropped the Autobot Titan and let him fall to his hands and knees. Bruticus picked up Metroplex gun that he dropped in the struggle, and stuck the barrel in his gaping weak point. The cannon began to charge at full power when Devastator tackled the Monster away from Metroplex. "Decepticon fool! Why stop Bruticus from killing Autobot?" "Because that is MY mission. I will crush all who stand in my way!" Bruticus, who was still lying on the ground, knocked Devastator off of him with a strong right hook to the face. He went in for another hook, but this time was parried and knocked back with a left hook from Devastator. "Prepare for Devastation!" he screamed as he charged the stumbling Beast. Devastator picked him up and carried him farther into the desert, out where the pyramids were. He continued at full speed, with Bruticus on his shoulder, towards one of the still standing pyramids. The two monsters collided with the large stone mountain, but Bruticus took the brunt of the damage. Devastator dropped his gestalt brother and left him for dead. "Hahaha! And you call yourself a war machine." As he turned around he was greeted with a powerful right hook from Metroplex, who had quickly recovered and caught up with their battle. "This isn't over yet Decepticon! I won't give up until both of you are down for good." While Devastator was unconscious for the moment, Metroplex returned to the fallen war machine. "You will be the first to go." He said as he charged his shoulder cannon, "Not yet!" Bruticus yelled as he chucked one of the large pieces of the pyramid at Metroplex's face. His cannon was still charging and with the Autobot now barely able to stand, his cannon fired. The seismic blast knocked him onto his crippling back. The three Titans were now all lying on the ground, barely online.

Both Optimus and Megatron's swords collided, locking them together and bringing them closer. "You should've gave up centuries ago, you are not fit to lead the transformers, Optimus. I will rule Cybertron as soon as I kill you. Peace through tyranny!" "One cannot successfully rule with tyranny. You will only bring more pain, there is no peace. And power will ultimately be your downfall!" "Heh…even if do not become ruler, I will at least get the satisfaction of killing you!" "One shall stand, one shall fall." They unlocked their swords and jumped back. Megatron pulled a pistol from side holster and fired it upon his brother. Optimus merely ran straight through the lasers and onto his counterpart. With Megatron's sword put down, Prime took advantage of the situation and sliced a part of his chest armor. "Ha! You think that that one strike will put me…AH!" he screamed as a shot came from the sky and hit him on his arm. "Starscream!" "You think your fit to rule the Decepticons? You are a coward; your men deserve a real ruler!" Optimus looked into Megatron's optics and Megatron looked back at his; they both nodded in agreement. The Decepticon Leader did his signature back-flip and transformed into his handgun mode. Prime grabbed him out of the air and held his nemesis in his own hands. Prime, with deadly precision, wielded his brother and took aim at Starscream and Sunstorm. He fired off four shots while Starscream looked on with awe and fear. One shot entered his shoulder, the other two went through his torso, and the last struck his head. The Seeker leader had fallen for good. Prime then shot at Sunstorm, but he tried to shoot down Megatron's own lasers with his own weapons. The shots collided in the air but Megatron was far superior to Sunstorm's meager null ray cannons. The lasers continued onto the renegade and two shots entered through his skull, completely obliterating his head which brought him down to the ground hard. Megatron changed his mass and transformed out of Prime's hands, "Now where were we?"

Evac was still chasing down Blitzwing. The Decepticon was running out of energon and could no longer keep up his speed, which allowed his nemesis to catch up with him. In a last ditch effort, Blitzwing dove towards the ground and transformed into his tank mode. With Evac still trailing behind, the triple-changer had enough time to rotate his turret around and fire at Evac. One blazing, molten hot plasma shot made a direct hit on Evac's back rotor; causing him to spin out of control and nail the ground hard. Before he made contact with the ground, however, he transformed and landed flat on his face, for he had a plan. Blitzwing returned to robot mode and approached his fallen enemy. "Some guardian you are. One little shot brought you down and offline; Hahaha!" just at that moment, Evac sprung his trap and grabbed a hold of Blitzwing's leg. He pulled him off-balance and removed his rotor blade off his back. With the Decepticon on the floor and still in shock, the Autobot pierced through his armor and onto the other side, into the ground. Burning oil erupted out of Blitzwing's mouth as he lay there offline. The triple-changers had another unique ability; if for some reason they were to go offline, then they would explode, destroying anything within its radius. Evac was unaware of the final defense and tried to remove his sword…but it was too late. The interior of the Decepticon ignited and burst, engulfing his enemy in hot oil and fire. Evac could not escape his own doom, he could not run or put out the fire, only endure the pain and agony until his spark finally gave way.

Ironhide was in the worst predicament of the all. He was in pursuit of one Decepticon and was being followed by three Seekers; if he turned around, the Seekers would obliterated him, and his energon would only keep him moving forward for a certain amount of time. He had to make a choice: turn around and die or keep moving until his energon ran out…and die. But Ironhide was well known for beating the odds; the only other Autobot with that reputation was Optimus Prime and he was fighting his own battle. With the Seekers hot on his trail, Ironhide finally gave up chasing down Tankor, "You guys want some of Ironhide? Fine come get some!" In a flash the black titan transformed and flipped forward. He used a unique tactic by front-flipping and then used his own cannons to propel himself high into the air, right in front of the Seekers. Dirge was surprised but at the same time very impressed. Skywarp had actually flown quite a ways past his enemy and therefore was not present when he launched into the air. "What the?" were Thrust's last words when Ironhide blasted a molten hot hole straight through his face. He was closest to Dirge who tried to grab him, but Ironhide countered and flipped him around so he was now the Autobot's hostage. Ironhide tried to use Dirge to keep himself afloat, but he was too heavy and they both started to plummet to the earth below. "Let go! Let go of me!" Dirge screamed as he saw the ground approaching faster and faster, "Not a chance Decepticon." Dirge let out one more "Nooooo!" just before he slammed into the crust. The Seeker had broken Ironhide's fall, but in the process was completely disintegrated by the impact. "Two down, three to go." He said as he stood back to his feet. "Skywarp, get back here!" Thundercracker yelled at his brother, "You wanted revenge, well here take it! You've already used that trick once Autobot, you think we'll fall for it again?" "Actually I had something else in mind; one of my favorites to be honest." Ironhide then detached both of his arm cannons and combined them into one big, under slung gatling laser. Both the Seeker Brothers looked on in fear as the enemy proceeded by unloading shot after red hot shot of plasma at his them. Accuracy no longer mattered, there were too many rounds flying in the sky for him to miss. The barrels turned red hot as Ironhide relentlessly fired each shot; the Decepticons could not escape the barrage of plasma. One shot after the other penetrated the Seeker's light armor. Both of Skywarp's arms were blown off by the impact of the rounds and his brother was completely demolished by the wall of plasma. Out of the sky fell the two once proud Seekers. As soon as they hit the ground, what was left of the Seekers shattered into many pieces. Ironhide had only one more enemy to take down, the last triple-changer, Tankor. He didn't have to fight Astrotrain for he immediately left for Cybertron as soon as the fighting started. Tankor had completely ran out of energon and landed his plane on the earth. He had flown so far that he landed in the sand instead of the solid ground that was created by the Titans. "Gotta…keep…movin…" Tankor said exhaustedly, "Move Tankor…move! Do you wanna become a pile of scrap? No so keep moving!" he tried to convince himself, but he was doomed for he knew that he was no match for the Autobot second in command. As he lay on the soft sand in his robot mode, Ironhide finally caught up with him. "Gotta get away…can't let him get me…" he said unaware that his enemy was standing over him. Ironhide raised his gun to Tankor's head when he turned and looked up at him, "You're not going anywhere." In one quick blast, Ironhide's current job was finished.

"I will destroy you Autobot…" "You gotta get near me first." Soundwave and Blaster taunted as the circled each other. "Ravage, Rumble, Laserbeak, Frenzy deploy and attack." Soundwave pressed a button on his left shoulder and multiple cassette-bots jumped out of his chest lid. Ravage transformed into a panther, Laserbeak a very small pterodactyl, and Frenzy and Rumble into two mini-bots with pneumatic hammers on both arms. "Well I guess I'll just have to fight fire with fire." Blaster said as he too deployed his cassette-bots. Steeljaw changed from cassette to a T-rex, Ramhorn turned into a Ram, and Eject and Flipside were the counterparts of Frenzy and Rumble. While the cassette-bots battled it out, and with Blaster momentarily distracted by his allies, Soundwave charged and tackled hi nemesis. "Get off Decepticreep!" Blaster tried to hit him with a hard right hand, but Soundwave caught it and delivered a right hook of his own. Blaster tried a different approach, he swung his legs up and wrapped them around Soundwave's head and forced him off. As soon as he was on the ground, the Autobot stood, pulled out his gun, and immediately shot his counterpart. Soundwave dodged it and then kicked Blaster's left knee-cap in. The hinge broke his leg fell off. He had only one option left. Blaster transformed into his alt mode, which was a boom-box, cranked the volume and unleashed a seismic blast that deafened his enemy. The huge blast even caused one of Soundwave's cassettes, Laserbeak, to explode. Disoriented and confused, the Decepticon communications expert fired off one shot in hoping to hit Blaster and stop the pain. Luckily, he did manage to nail a direct hit on his speaker which was located on his right leg. "Ah! Ow! I…can't…" he struggled to transform back to robot mode. Soundwave looked around to discover all the cassette-bots lying on the ground, offline; but still proceeded to approach his nemesis. Blaster was soon looking down the barrel of Soundwave's large rifle; it all happened so fast that the Autobot didn't even have time to compute what was happening, but it no longer mattered…Soundwave finally won over his nemesis. Megatron, who was still in combat with Prime, looked at his loyal Decepticon and said, "Ready the warp gate!" "As you command Megatron." Soundwave raised his arm and pressed a few buttons on the top of his wrist and soon their escape would arrive.

After a while the three Titans automatically came back online. Rising to a sitting position, Bruticus was the first one up. He looked around to see his enemies only barely moving. The war machine gathered enough strength to stand up and return to his master, but was soon stopped by the metal mountain, Metroplex. He had grabbed his leg and yanked him back down to his hands and knees. "Bruticus will stand tall…Bruticus will win." He was resilient as he returned to his feet, but once again Metroplex grabbed his leg. Bruticus's rage finally kicked in and he completely lost all control. The Decepticon glared back down at the Autobot with a look in his optics that made him seem almost possessed. Bruticus clenched his fist and brought it down as hard as he could on the Autobots head, smashing and completely obliterating his skull. "Hahahahahaha! More destruction!" he said as he walked over to the Renegade still lying on the ground. Devastator barely turned his head to look at the demented Gestalt. For once there was fear in his optics as he tried to crawl away, but Bruticus caught him by the head and lifted him one handed. With enough force, Bruticus crushed Devastator's cranium within his own hands. The remainder of the Gestalt disengaged and attempted to flee from the deranged Decepticon. He only laughed manically as he crushed one by one under his large and heavy feet. Only Long Haul was left, and he got the farthest out of all of his companions. He transformed and tried to drive as far away as he could, but Bruticus had one weapon left that had never been tested: his back rail gun. He fell forward, catching himself and remained on his hands and knees. Clamps around his arms and legs tried to dig into the sand as much as they could, but Bruticus did not wait and instead charged the gun. Electricity shot from side to side as cannon built up to full power. Faster than the blink of an eye, the rail gun fired and nailed Long Haul, disintegrating him in the process, but Bruticus was also thrown far back from the power of the blast. He stood back up, completely unharmed, and returned to Megatron.

"Why do you lead the Autobots the way you do? Why do they respect you when you give them nothing to fear?" "Because I do not lead like a dictator or tyrant. I respect and trust my men and they do the same for me; it's how we were programmed. Autobots were formulated for keeping the peace while the Decepticons were prioritized for war and destruction." "You are still a coward Optimus, you will fall from your leadership position and I shall assume role as leader of all transformers!" "Megatron…the warp gate is here." Soundwave interrupted. "It looks like we'll have to postpone our battle for another time." "I'm not going to let you just walk away from me." "O you're still gonna fight, it just won't be me that you'll fight." "What do you mean?" "Turn around, Prime." A hulking shadow appeared over the Autobot leader; his curiosity caused him to turn around and see the menacing Bruticus standing before him. Before leaving, Megatron left Prime a gift: a knife in the back, literally. "So long Prime, that is if you make it out of this alive." Megatron laughed maniacally as he and Soundwave entered through the warp gate.


	6. Chapter 6

Legend of Bruticus (Chapter 6 Final)

One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall

Prime looked up at the war machine and noticed fire spewing out of every crack on his armor, for he was no longer powered by energon but by pure rage and desire for total annihilation. Bruticus had lost all control and now his only focus was smashing anything in his path. "You didn't think that you would get all the fun, did you?" Ironhide said as he came running to Prime's side. "Thank you…old friend…" "Prime, are you hurt?" "It's nothing, it'll hold up for one more battle. Right now we just gotta focus on taking out this Behemoth." "So what's the plan?" "I don't know, I'll just make it up as a go along and you follow." "Works for me!"

The towering Colossus stood before the two Autobots, hungry for destruction and violence. Bruticus had lost completely control and the only way he could be stopped would be to be shut down permanently. They stood within ground zero of which the Gestalt and Metroplex fought recently. Even though they were in the desert, a previous massive shockwave blew away all the sand and now they were standing on solid ground. "Stand down Bruticus!" "Hahaha! Bruticus smash tiny Autobots!" his hand smashed on the ground, dividing Prime and Ironhide. "We need to go on the offensive Optimus…now!" Ironhide said as Bruticus focused his attacks on him. While the war machine was distracted with Prime's second in command, Optimus climbed the back of the tower and gripped firmly on the giant's left shoulder. Prime was so small in comparison to Bruticus that he didn't even feel the Autobot crawling on him. It wasn't until Optimus was next to his head that the Decepticon noticed him. Bruticus swung his hand up in hopes of grabbing him, "Get down!" but the Titan was thick headed and not very bright and therefore hit himself in the face as his enemy dove to the other shoulder. "I said get DOWN!" he only repeated the same process, only with his other hand. Bruticus had dazed himself and now the Autobots could maybe do some damage. Ironhide combined his arm cannons back into the gatling laser and lit up the war machine, but his armor was too thick and resilient and only deflected Ironhides shots. "Prime, I'm not doing anything down here!" "Aim for the head." Ironhide followed orders and tried to focus his shots at the Monster's head, but once again the shots merely bounced off his helmet. Bruticus rested his head on his hand and slowly came back to his senses.

"We need new tactics." Optimus raised his arm to contact one of his Autobots through the intercom, "Ratchet, are you and Sandstorm still in the vicinity?" "Yes, sir. We left as soon as the war started; we knew that we would only get in the way." "Well now you're the only ones that can help us. You are familiar with gestalts, what weaknesses do they have?" "Hmm…have you tried the head?" "Yes, the rounds bounced off his skull." "Most gestalts are very powerful from the front but incredibly vulnerable from the back." "That didn't work either; I used my swords to dig into his back and he never even noticed." "Bruticus is a very unique type of gestalt then. It's like the Decepticons created the ultimate war machine. I have only one more suggestion, aim for the joints." "Thanks Ratchet, we'll keep that in mind. Did you hear that Ironhide?" "Already on it Prime!" The two Autobots unloaded most of their ammo on the Leviathan's joints, but the actual connecting point was extremely difficult to hit, especially while Bruticus was moving. But Prime had an idea to make him freeze long enough for Ironhide to land a direct hit. He dropped his gun next to his friend and ran up to the Goliath "Come on Bruticus! Can't you smash a tiny little robot like me?" Prime goaded him into slamming the ground, but he bashed the ground so hard that his fist got stuck for a moment. "Now Ironhide! Take the shot!" the Autobot dropped his own weapon and picked up Prime's deadly accurate rifle. With one precise shot, he nailed the connector joint, disengaging the left arm from its socket. "Yes! Direct hit! Finally the battle is going in our favor." Ironhide celebrated a little too early for Bruticus was laughing and his low, evil laugh. "Something's not right here, stay on guard." Bruticus returned to his feet but picked up the fallen arm in the process. His shadow engulfed the two Autobots as he said, "Will take more than that to stop Bruticus!" and he then reattached the arm that was shot off. "What? No! I'll keep him distracted, just contact Ratchet again." "Ratchet we have another problem; we succeeded in blowing off one limb…" "Good good…" "But he reattached it." "I was afraid of this; I and Sandstorm are on our way back to your position. We will need to blow off all the limbs at once so he will not have time to heal himself. Hold him off till we get there; we're not far." "Easier said than done, my friend."

"Hey Prime, this is actually kind of fun. He's too slow that I can keep dodging with no problem, but deadly enough that if I mess up once then I'm done for." "Don't get audacious, without you we can't destroy this beast." "Relax, I'll be...OOF! O that was a close one. I'm just happy that he's too stupid to use any of his weapons." "Autobot give Bruticus good idea." Ah great…" Ironhide immediately regretted his words when Bruticus pulled his massive hand cannon off his back and started to charge it. "Ironhide move!" he was frozen in terror for a moment, but Optimus pulled him out of the way just in time to save his life. "Thanks." "I told you not to get careless out there. Now we have to be very careful, we're not sure what he's fully capable of." "Well he destroyed Metroplex and Devastator, so obviously he's a force to be reckoned with. Prime, I don't mean to be a downer, but do you think we can actually beat this thing on our own?" "You're not on you own." A voice came from over the sand hill; it was Ratchet and Sandstorm. "Thank Primus, we didn't know how much longer we would survive against this thing." Said Ironhide thankfully. Bruticus fired his cannon at the group again, "Autobots can't escape!" the four dove away but the heat from the blast scorched Sandstorm's left arm. "Can you still fire your weapon soldier?" "Yeah Prime, I'm right handed, not left." "So we all know what to do? We have to strike all four joints at the same time, that should cause total disengagement." Ratchet reviewed the plan. "But how do we get him to stay still? Trust me; it's not easy to hit those joints when he's moving." "Leave that to me." Sandstorm insisted. He leaped into the air and transformed to his helicopter mode. "I can still fire from this mode, so don't worry." He then flew straight at the Monster with his tow cable deployed. Bruticus tried to swat him out of the air like you would swat a fly, but the Giant was too slow. This Gestalt was built for power and endurance, not speed and agility. Bruticus watched as the Autobot flew past him and towards a rock behind him. Sandstorm's tow cable latched onto the rock and hoisted it into the air with the helicopter. Still confused, the Goliath starred as the enemy came closer in closer. It was not until it was too late that Bruticus realized what he was doing. Sandstorm flew a little higher than Bruticus's head, dragging the rock behind him. When the time was right he released the rock and it, along with all the momentum it was building, slammed into the face of Bruticus. His head was thick but the rock was harder, and made a small crack in his helmet. The Beast rested his head in his hand and remained motionless for a second. "Now! Hurry, I'll get behind him and get that last joint." "Autobots, on my mark, fire." One by one they raised their weapons and took aim at the joint of their choice. "3…2…1…FIRE!" in unison, they fired their guns. Each laser made direct contact with the joint. Bruticus lifted his head to see what had happened, but he was still standing. "Hahaha! Autobots can't stop Bruticus. Bruticus stronger than all Transformers!" once he said that he noticed a significant decrease in strength. He looked over and his left arm and watched it as it back to the ground. He tried to grab it with his right hand, but that too was failing him. The Titan was now standing armless, but his legs too soon gave way. Bruticus wobbled left and right but eventually the broken joints eventually collapsed under the massive weight. The torso fell flat on his back, lying around all the other appendages. Each limb transformed back into their respected robot modes; Onslaught, Vortex, Blast Off, Swindle, and Brawl. "Now we're on even ground." Said Prime.

Each of the Cambaticons was furious because they knew that even if they could reform Bruticus, he would not hold together. The Gestalt's rage was divided into these five soldiers and they were about to release every bit of it till there was nothing left. They broke up and chose their own Autobot to fight: Vortex versus Sandstorm, Brawl and Swindle versus Ironhide, Blast Off versus Ratchet, and finally Onslaught versus Prime. Vortex flew into the air in robot mode after Sandstorm who was still somewhat close to the ground. The Decepticon grabbed ahold of the Triple-changer's tow cable and pulled him back down to earth. Sandstorm turned into his buggy and tried to escape, but Vortex refused and held him down so he could do no such thing. The Autobot slammed on the accelerator, but was only kicking up sand with his back tires. His enemy used one of his rotor swords to impale the tires. He had a firm grip on his back roll bar, but Sandstorm had his weapon placed up there and planned to use it. As the gun rotated around, Vortex looked up to discover the barrel of the gun in his face. He didn't have time to react to the point blank shot that entered through his forehead and exited out the back of his skull. The Decepticon eased his grip and fell on his back on the smooth sand.

Ironhide, once again, had the most trouble of all, for he was outnumbered again. He had to deal with two deadly and angry Decepticons: Brawl and Swindle. One stood in front of the Autobot while the other stood behind him. After all that had happened, Swindle was still thinking about money, "We are willing to forgive all this for the…right price." "You Decepticons make me sick. All you think about is what you can gain from something, whether it be money or energon, or simply the twisted pleasure of watching an innocent town burn to the ground from you own lasers." "And you Autobots make ME sick" replied Brawl. "The only focus on your minds is peace and it disgusts me!" "I may be a soldier and made for war, but that doesn't mean that I want innocents to die and not want peace." "And another thing, we Decepticons don't need anyone to watch our backs, we can take care of ourselves." "Alone is no way to live and if you really believe that then why are you a part of a team? And why do you have your friend here behind me?" "I…it doesn't matter! We'll destroy you anyways!" "I highly doubt that, but at least you'll put up a good fight. Fueled by even more rage now, Brawl charged Ironhide, but the Autobot jumped over him. Brawl had too much momentum to stop now and continued onto his comrade only to knock him on the ground. "What do you think you're doing, moron?" "He moved out the way." "Are you two gonna keep arguing or are we gonna get back to the fight. With his waist cannon deployed, Brawl swung around and fired a surprised shot at his enemy. But it backfired for Ironhide was not there; instead he was standing over Swindle, who was still on the ground. "Brawl quick!" in a flash of lightning, Ironhide picked the Decepticon up and used him as a human shield while Brawl was still turning back around. He fired off another shot without thinking and made direct contact with his friend. "Swindle! I…I…you'll pay for this Autobot!" "I'm sure I will, now come Decepticon, show me how strong you really are." They immediately locked hands, both physically even. They were both powerhouses and both had intent of destroying the other, but Decepticons were known for cheating. While Ironhide's hands were occupied with keeping Brawl from tearing him apart, the Decepticon still had his waist cannon deployed, and decided to unleash it on the distracted Autobot. The plasma tore a gash out of Ironhide's side, which too sent him into a frenzy. In that same rapid motion, Ironhide threw up Brawl's hands and grabbed his turret. He swung it all the way around his back and proceeded to rip it clean off his body; now he was completely weaponless. Brawl tried to get in a few strikes but his enemy deflected each slow fist and gave him a few of his own. With the Decepticon now dazed, Ironhide plunged his thumbs into the robots optics and from there he pulled outward, completely tearing the skull in half. As the 'con fell on his back, Ironhide said with relief and joy, "Man, I love my job!"

The next battle was more of a fight of the pacifists. Neither Ratchet nor Blast Off enjoyed fighting, but they did not have a choice this time; there were no other options. Blast Off was even slightly blinded by rage, but his inward peacefulness prevailed. "It's a shame you didn't choose the right side, you could have been a successful Autobot." "What makes you think I wasn't?" "What?" "You're surprised? When have you ever heard of a peaceful Decepticon? That's right, never. My original name was Skydive and I was an Autobot. One of the best flyers that Cybertron has ever seen." "You…were the legendary Skydive? But the records show that he died off centuries ago in a past war." "That's right, Skydive did die. The Autobots abandoned me out there on the battlefield and left me for dead, but Megatron found me and rebuilt me into Blast Off." "Why don't you return to your original allegiance?" "Why would I?" "Well for one, your side is losing at the moment, and two, I'm sure that Megatron will soon follow. Besides, if you return to the Autobots, Prime might have a special reward for you." "He would never accept me after all the innocents I helped killed." "Prime would understand and forgive." "I might consider it if you first show me what you new Autobots can do." "Very well, prepare yourself; I may be old, but I still got it." Ratchet's secondary weapon was an EMP cannon located on the top of his left arm; it was used to freeze his enemies long enough for him to do a significant amount of damage. Blast Off was surprised by the old man's speed as he fired off a shot while Blast Off was in mid transformation. The hunk of dampened metal had fallen to the ground, incapable of any movement. Ratchet quickly ran over and lifted the former ally over his head and flung him thirty feet into a solid rock. He approached him lying on the ground, "After all these years you're still fast and strong as a young bot. Prime really does take care of his men." "Yes, he does. Have you made your final decision yet, Blast Off?" "Hmm…call me Skydive." Ratchet gave him a satisfying grin and helped him to his feet. "Prime will be pleased knowing that he got one of his best soldiers back."

The final battle was between the team leaders: Onslaught versus Optimus Prime. "Give up Prime; you're not winning this war." "Look around you, all of your men have fallen." Each of Prime's soldiers approached the conflict and surrounded them. "All of them but Blast Off." "It's Skydive now; I've returned to my original faction." "What? You traitor! Megatron will hear about this and will have your head!" "He's not going to hear about this." Prime interrupted. "Yes he will, but first I'll get rid of each of you Autobots." While Onslaught was facing Optimus, he caught Sandstorm by surprised by aiming his weapon at him. One shot of his cannon obliterated the astonished Autobot. "NO!" Ironhide swung his mighty fist in Onslaughts direction, but he ducked and swiped his legs out from under him. "Don't even think about it. I'm not as foolish and weak like my comrades." Onslaught looked directly at Skydive when he said that, like he was aiming all his hate at him now. "Ratchet, now!" Prime ordered to Ratchet who knew what he meant. He lifted his EMP blaster and shot a burst of electromagnetic radiation at the only remaining Decepticon. Everyone looked on in awe as the shot merely bounced off his armor. Onslaught turned and faced Ratchet, "My armor was specially made to deflect pathetic weapons such as that electromagnetic pulse of yours." "But is it designed to deflect a sword?" "What?" he said realizing that he had let down his guard. Prime's sword entered through his back and came out through his stomach. "Argh! It's gonna take more than that to finish me off." Ironhide returned to his feet and stood before the injured Decepticon. He proceeded by sticking one of the barrels of his weapon down his throat and pulling the trigger. The plasma tore through any and all wires in its path and exited out through the middle of his spine. "That was for Sandstorm." "Ha!" he said as he spit out hot oil, "You'll have to do better than that!" "Prime, I have an idea." Said the new Skydive. He has tortured millions and bots and humans and has killed many more. Why don't we put him through some torture as a sort of justice?" "What did you have in mind?" "Leave that to me, all you need to do is remove his legs." In one quick swipe, the deed was done. "Good, now here," he transformed into his shuttle mode, "Load them onto my ship." They did as he commanded and put Onslaught along with his fallen comrades in the cargo hold. "I'll be back, just be patient."

Ironhide, Ratchet, and Prime were gathering the remains of their soldiers in the war-torn desert. "It's been about an hour, sir. Where do you think he could've gone? What if he returned to Cybertron?" "He didn't." Why do you say that?" "Because there he is." Prime pointed off in the distance. Skydive returned to his new Autobots with an empty cargo hold. "Well? Where are they?" "Resting at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean…" "A suitable death for Decepticons. But why did you have Prime cut off Onslaughts legs?" "Because he would try even harder to swim to the surface, and when he runs out of energon, he'll sink to the bottom and the pressure will crush his body; regardless of how resilient it is." "You've done good men and it's good to have you back Skydive. But fighting Bruticus made me realize something." "What sir?" "A gestalt would make a fine addition to our team, but we would need someone to lead them; someone with integrity, wisdom, and someone who commands respect." "I would be honored to lead them sir." Answered Skydive. "I know you will, but first we must finish cleaning up this war ground." Ratchet came running back from the pyramids, "Good news Optimus. I may be able to bring Metroplex back online." "What about the others?" "Sadly, their bodies were disintegrated along with their spark; they cannot be brought back." "I guess that's the price of war: lose some good men, but thankfully we have gained an old ally."

…Back on Cybertron…

"AH! Incompetent fools! I have morons on my team! Pathetic, weak, worthless morons!" "Sir, maybe you should calm down…" said a daring Decepticon drone. Megatron raised his arm cannon and blew him away with ease. "No one tells me what to do! I created the ultimate war machine and Prime still defeats it! Anything else you have to report Astrotrain?" "Do you want good news or bad news, sir?" "Good news, maybe that will lighten my mood." "Ok, sir. The good news is that not all of the Combaticons were destroyed." "Good, bring him back here and we'll create a new, more powerful Bruticus." "The bad news, however, sir…is that…um…he joined the Autobots." "Blast Off…" after that Megatron sat motionless on his throne, rage quickly building in his optics. In a calm voice he said, "Everyone out now." No one thought twice about his order and immediately left the building. The only one who remained was Megatron's most trusted soldier, Soundwave. "Why are my men so ungrateful? I provide them with what they want and they still betray me!" "Sir, before we left for earth, I had begun work on a new Gestalt." "What? Why did you not tell me about this?" "Because the odds showed that Bruticus would not be destroyed and would conquer Prime and his Autobots." "Where is this new Gestalt?" "Follow me, sir." Megatron stood to his feet and followed his soldier to the same large room in which Bruticus was built. In the middle of the room stood a towering and menacing new Decepticon still in construction. All of the anger left Megatron and was filled with hope for his new, more powerful war machine. "Hahahahahahahaha! This is perfect; the Autobots will not be able to counter such a beast. The war will be won in days…"


End file.
